Project INTER VENTURES: Policies to Promote the Internationalisation of SMEs for More Competitive Regional Ecosystems in Border Areas of the EU is an Interreg Europe project that aims at promoting the internationalization of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the EU border regions.
The objective of the project is to create awareness and improve the capacities of Small and Medium Enterprises (hereafter: SMEs) and to foster their engagement in cross-border contexts through the promotion of international collaborations. To do so, the Inter Ventures project brings together nine partners from European border regions representing various stages of evolution of the SMEs ecosystems. The partners will share their experiences, increase their capabilities and identify key-actors and practices that can be potentially beneficial to each other. The knowledge exchange among the project partners will be facilitated through the organization of Thematic Study Visits and Interregional Meetings that will combine trainings and discussions.
In the course of the project, each partner will explore the condition of SMEs in its own area. Results will serve to identify the actions and measures that need to be developed in order to improve the local policy frameworks supporting SMEs. The lessons learnt will also support the elaboration of tailor-made regional Action Plans aiming at having a direct impact on the policy instruments (ERDF and national programmes) to enhance the internationalization of SMEs in the respective region.
In February 2021 the first phase of the project was extended with six months due to effects of the COVID-19 Crisis. The duration below reflects the new timeline of the Inter Ventures project.
Duration: August 1, 2019 – January 31, 2023 (42 months), AEBR will be involved until 31st December 2021
Budget: The overall budget of this project is €1.37 Million
The Inter Ventures project has nine partners:
Lead partner of this project is Pannon European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (HU)
AEBR role in the project Inter Ventures:
In the framework of Inter Ventures, the AEBR plays the role of an Advisory Partner to provide knowledge and facilitate the implementation of the project in view of its competences in cross-border related issues. In more detail, AEBR will provide the project partners with several methodological tools aiming at involving the regional stakeholder group, at identifying strengths and weaknesses of each partner’s regional context and at collecting and sharing relevant knowledge, especially in the form of good practices. Additionally, as an Advisory Partner, AEBR will host webinars, reviews the reports written by the project partners and provides recommendations concerning the sustainability and effectiveness of the selected measures. Finally, AEBR will provide continuous advisory support for the elaboration and finalization of the Action Plans, supervising the preparation of the Regional Policy Recommendations and disseminating the project outputs across the cross-border community in Europe.
What will the members of AEBR gain from this project?
There are several ways the members of AEBR benefit from this project. Firstly, AEBR members will get the concentrated overview of the project outputs and deliverables. Secondly, those concentrated outputs and deliverables will be modified for the context of AEBR members. Thirdly, AEBR members will be provided by the overview of the SME internationalization in the EU border regions based on the outcomes of this project. Finally, this project will increase the visibility of the problems in the EU border areas and with that also the importance of the AEBR as an organization that targets the border and cross-border related issues.
In addition to the pre-mentioned, AEBR members will be provided by the current information about the project via AEBR quarterly newsetter.
Press Release for the Inter Ventures project: AEBR released a Press Release on good practices from partners in the INTER VENTURES project to promote the internationalisation of SMEs in EU border regions: AEBR Press Release INTERVENTURES 14-09
In Panorama 75, the Winter 2020 edition, an article on INTER VENTURES was written by the AEBR. In the article the aim of INTER VENTURES, promoting the internationalisation of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), is covered, as well as the steps the European Commission has taken in the last year on strengthening SMEs. The article on the boost for SMEs and cross-border business, that features INTER VENTURES, can be found on page 19 in Panorama 75
Responsible persons for the project in AEBR:
dr. Annika Jaansoo
Contact: a.jaansoo@aebr.eu
Rick Buursink, MSc
Contact: r.buursink@aebr.eu
Outputs/Deliverables:
Methodologies:
Methodology for Stakeholder Engagement
Methodology for Regional Situation Analysis
Methodology on Knowledge Sharing
Methodology of Action Planning
Link to the Inter Ventures project web-page: https://www.interregeurope.eu/interventures/
Good practices from the Inter Ventures project: https://www.interregeurope.eu/interventures/good-practices/
Video about the Inter Ventures project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTm7zgm5Q8U
Inter Ventures Newsletters: https://www.interregeurope.eu/interventures/library/
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